Yorkshire Dales & Moors
Heads
308M
1010FT
About Heads
Overlooking the village of Danby, this quiet moorland summit offers a grounded experience of the Yorkshire uplands. A modest Tump, its heather-topped height provides a clear vantage point over the Esk valley, where the managed grouse moors transition into the green, sheltered pastures of the lower dales.
Key Statistics
Rank
17th Highest in Region
Parent Range
England
Prominence
?
96
Nearest Town
Danby
Geology
You are walking over layered beds of hardened mud, sand, and iron-rich rock that form the sturdy foundation of this fell.
Classifications
Nearby Fells
Find It
OS Grid Reference
NZ722052
Latitude
54.4371°N
Longitude
0.8884°W
Did You Know?
- •The name is derived from the Old English 'heafod', a term frequently used in Yorkshire to describe the high, rounded brow of a moorland plateau where it begins to drop into a valley.
- •The summit offers a clear view north-east across the valley to Danby Beacon, while the sprawling remains of the 14th-century Danby Castle can be spotted on the lower slopes nearby.
- •This area of high moorland is rich in archaeological history, with the surrounding ridges containing numerous Bronze Age burial mounds and ancient boundary markers that suggest the ridge has been a navigational landmark for millennia.
- •At 308 metres (1,010 feet), the hill reaches just high enough to be officially 'over a thousand,' a fact that feels much more significant when the North Sea mist rolls in to obscure the track.